Freddie
Roach once said that the mega fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao
is “a battle between Good and Evil”, Pacquiao being the Angel and Mayweather
the Devil. Truth is, Manny and Floyd are both believers. With regards to
Floyd’s materialistic ways he insisted that for him, God is still a priority. But
to tell you guys, my God won’t be at MGM Grand on Saturday night, not because of
the costly ticket, my dear readers. Nor because of the Churchmen and pastors singing
the Philippine National Anthem that any hoodwink may consider as an
infringement of the Constitutional clause on Separation of Church and the
State. I’ll tell you later why my God won’t show up for Mayweather-Pacquiao.
In
one of his Instagram posts Floydie explained his outlook about his God: "God will not give you anything you can't
handle. That's why God gave me the best hands in the business to pray with, box
with and count money with." God knows that no one is so wicked he
never once in his life show in his heart something that God made. But since
this is more of a sports write-up, I would not expound on Miguel de Unamuno’s theological
concept of the difference between “God Idea” and “God Himself” as a rejoinder.
What
matters most now, since both proclaimed their belief in God, of whatever basis
they both have, on whose side the Almighty will be on May 3? But to tell you, a
draw is not a remote possibility. Compared to his former opponents, Justine
Beiber’s man now seems to be more kind against Justine Fortune’s bet. Pretty
Boy is now “saintly” judging from his latest “no-trash-talking” and reserve
gesture not taking into consideration his sincerity or lack of it.
Mayweather
is his God’s child too. The child in TBE once declared, again on his Instagram account:
"I am guilty! I'm materialistic and I'm
motivated by money … but God is first in my life." How could a loving
Father censure his son with such statements of loving acceptance (?) with such proclamation
no matter how ridiculous it is conveyed? If my God isn’t God of love,
understanding and forgiveness, my God ceases to be God.
“God will
deliver Mayweather into my hands,” says Pacquiao on what he expects from
his God. But in boxing as well as in
life, we have to struggle and fight it out ourselves not relying on the
deliverer solely taking action. In boxing, it is the boxer who delivers blow
and punches, not God,- yours, theirs and mine. Reducing my God’s role to that
of Air21 deliveryman and not as co-actor in our every undertaking is in a way, blasphemous.
But
my God would not be with Kenny Bayless or Tony Weeks on top of the ring neither
with boxing camps or corners on that much anticipated bout, or with Al Bernstein
and the rest of the crew for its media coverage. The righteousness and evilness
the two champions in their personal lives, past and present, were not part of
the Tale of the Tape like in any other boxing match that we have in mind.
Both
sons of their respective Gods no doubt, Floydie and Manny are bestowed with the
ability to hit their fellow pugilists would finally be meeting each other in the grandest “fistory”
of all time scheduled in the majestic basilica of gambling and entertainment in
the whole universe, a place where spirituality has no room. Las Vegas is a vineyard
of vice where God is irrelevant. And as I have told you a while ago, my God
wouldn’t be in the house because in there, my God is a persona non grata. Would God dare to be a spectator in a sport
where the ultimate objective is to hurt and maim your opponent? Be reminded too
that God abhors den of gamblers and love of money. In the so-called Sweet Science,
like in any other sciences, God and anything about God are less asked for.
If
God would not be around, what will happen? Between bells, both Mayweather and
Pacquiao will solely rely on their own style, athleticism, power and experience.
The outcome of the fight will be greatly resolved by their ability to knock-out
or punch each other out and not much on their God’s interference. In a profane
and brutal sport of boxing, action has more weight and might than the mysticism
and enormity of the player’s prayer. In every boxer-believer, fighting is a conviction
that there is God up there. Action and prayer, though do not diametrically
opposed, cannot go hand-in-hand evenly in the psyche of a pound-for-pounder. I
would not mind being less-Godly and be a rock-hard, blood-thirsty boxing buff on
that day!
The
outcome of this super fight will be determined more by the American and the
Filipino atop the ring and not by my God who is not bias against any race or
religion. It’s another story when it would go by a distance and end into the
scorecard or a controversial upshot.
It
is because the impious gods and demigods of the Mecca of Boxing, unlike my God,
would be there with all their mighty influence…
----------
(Photo : Jec-Hon)
